Real Madrid kick off La Liga this season against newly promoted Cordoba. The European Champions suffered a Super Cup defeat last Friday against city rivals Atletico Madrid and will look to bounce back here with a victory.

Last season the Galacticos amassed 87 points and finished 3rd, below Barcelona and current Spanish champions Atletico Madrid. With just 1 league title in 6 seasons, the fans will undoubtedly expect a league triumph this season.

The biggest news currently is the speculation surrounding the futures of both Khedira and Di Maria, who are widely tipped to leave the club by the end of the transfer window. Ancelotti however has ruled out any further signings.

“The market is closed for is. I'm very happy with Benzema, although he doesn't score in some games he brings a lot to the side".

Cristiano Ronaldo did not start the match against Atletico last Friday, however it is likely he will return to the starting lineup against Cordoba.

Cordoba return to the top flight of Spanish football after 42 years, after winning a dramatic playoff game against Las Palmas.

Ancelotti says the team will try and win all the titles they can.

"The new season is going to be interesting for us. We have a side full of quality and we are going to try and do what we did last year. None of us have spoken about winning six titles. We will try and win all the titles we can. Now we start a new season and are looking forward to it. There are every competitive sides to come, like Atético and Barcelona".

Carlo Ancelotti appeared in the Ciudad Real Madrid press room. The Italian manager analysed the game against Córdoba: “We want to play good football and build confidence for the championship. We're keen to start the season and determined to do it well and fight for this Liga”.

“We'll try to improve this year. Last season we came very close to winning the Liga and we ran out of steam at the end. It's a very difficult championship and with great teams that will fight to win it, but we're determined to do well”.

Cristiano Ronaldo's fitness“He trained well and he's available. He has no problems. His pre-season was not very regular because he needed individual work to resolve his niggles. Next week he'll have the whole week to train and it will be good for him”.

JAMES, KROOS AND NAVAS WILL BRING ENTHUSIASM AND A LOT OF QUALITY.“Each player in the squad has different attributes. Overall, the three new signings this season will add the enthusiasm brought by a new player arriving and also a lot of quality”.

Di María's possible departure“He came and didn't train. It's not official yet, but he came to say goodbye. We thanked him for what he has done for this club and wished him well in the future. It's not official, but it has been resolved”.

“Personally I've had a good relationship with him and he did a fantastic job here. It was his decision to leave because the club did everything possible to make him stay, offering him everything possible so that he'd stay”.

Khedira stays“The issue with Khedira has also been resolved. He's staying and we're happy that's the case. We have another player like Khedira and it's important for us”.

Transfer market“Our midfield is well covered. We played our last two games against a very solid side. The solution we are looking for is to be both fast and solid. This team won't have a problem scoring goals. We won't have problems in that area”.

The starting goalkeeper“I'm not going to say who'll play. And that's that”.

It's very worrying that the media usually know the line up days before the game these days. They have gotten every line up correctly since the Uefa Super Cup. If there was a leak before, it's flooding with inside info now

Mourinho sealed it all when he was here, there wasn't alot of inside info under Carlo in the first season but now it's going into over drive ffs

Apparently Arbeloa threw a fit and stormed off the pitch after being subbed out for Carvajal. He wants to leave

Good riddance and thanks for nothing. To think Iker sat on the bench for two straight seasons without making a single noise and have him ridiculed and then see this guy who badmouthed Iker throw a fit the moment he is not needed. Gtfo please

Arbeloa had a very poor game, actually I was surprised he even played for 70 minutes.

Defense looked in shambles, Ancielotti really needs to stop playing Pepe over Varane, he's not an unproven kid anymore.

In the first half, eve though the midfield was physically weak on paper, it was able to control the tempo of the game, but it lacked penetration. James was too far from the midfield and the attack to connect them. Hopefully either formation changes to 4-2-1-3, or James starts understanding his new role better. In the mean time, Isco is playing that role fairly OK whenever he comes on. Needs more playing time in there.

Whatever you, or I might think of Ramos, he won't be benched, only solution is to sub Pepe, both Pepe and Ramos have an almost similar style of play, heck even Pepe had turn down a notch hs "enthusiasm" to accommodates Ramos'. Varane offers something different, and is actually pretty good.

You can't just bench someone because you feel like it, Pepe has continued his outstanding form from last season into this. The way he is going he will be starting for seasons to come. Dude hasn't lost an ounce of speed despite hitting the age of 30

It's not because I feel like it, it's because Ramos and Pepe isn't the best combination we have. Pepe Varane will never happen.

Pepe's defending is decent, but I absolutely hates how he hoofs the balls, even if he isn't under pressure. With Varane and Ramos, both of them can contribute to building attacks, as both are good passers, and are calm on the ball, would help with a midfield of Kroos, and Modric who like the ball to get through them, and by feet.

A defenders primary job is to defend and he is doing that extremely well. The reason people call his long balls hoofing and not Ramos' is because Bale is always on the right wing while Ronaldo moves around. Both basically do the same thing but one is called hoofing the other I don't know.....playing cross field balls?

If James Modric weren't so far up our cbs would find it easier to pass them the ball, at times Kroos was surrounded by about 3 cordoba players and the other two nowhere to be seen. I bet this would be illustrated clearly on a heat map

Plus I was talking about when he intercepts the ball, Varane, or even Ramos intercept the ball, get out of trouble with a 1-2 or a dribble, then pass the ball to initiate a proper attack. instead of "hoofing" the ball.

Not to mention that Both Ramos and Pepe are aggressive players, while Varane covers more. That's why Varane with either of them. But not both of them together.

And no, Xabi, Modric, and now Kroos are always available deep for a pass. and they do get passes from Marcelp, Ramos and Varane all the time.

There is nothing you could fault Pepe for so until he actually has a bad game we can put these Pepe to the bench cries to bed, as for Ramos lets save our breatch shall we. When Iker leaves Ramos will take over running our team. He won't get benched until he says so

Last edited by halamadrid2 on Tue Aug 26, 2014 6:45 pm; edited 1 time in total

Because both Carvajal and Bale are always glued to the touch line while Marcelo and Ronaldo have trouble staying by the touch line?

Plus I was talking about when he intercepts the ball, Varane, or even Ramos intercept the ball, get out of trouble with a 1-2 or a dribble, then pass the ball to initiate a proper attack. instead of "hoofing" the ball.

Pepe doesn't always play it long, how much nonsense. I wanna check the stats for our game vs Cordoba and I bet Ramos played alot more long balls. Pepe is alot safter, Ramos with his arrogance loses the ball infront of our penalty box bejng cute with his passing. Pepe used to hoof under Mourinho but not much under Carlo

Not to mention that Both Ramos and Pepe are aggressive players, while Varane covers more. That's why Varane with either of them. But not both of them together.

That's easily solvable with training. Having Hierro will help

And no, Xabi, Modric, and now Kroos are always available deep for a pass. and they do get passes from Marcelp, Ramos and Varane all the time.

Pepe passes when somebody is available and plays it long when nobody is and so does Ramos.

Worst match ever. I was hoping we drew the match because this team doesn't learn unless it goes through a dark period to learn. As long as they continue to grind out wins with the way they played on monday, trust them to continue playing like that.Also, Arbeloa's contract should be allowed to run down. He has served us well. He is way past his en his best was just average but effective. Nacho should be given more playing time, he has more to offer.Varane should aolso play ahead of pepe.We need to promote a striker from the B team.Jese needs to return real quick cos these ronaldo's successive injuries could be ronaldo's version of messi's injury last season that hampered his performance throughout the season or could be his version of brazilian ronaldo's injury that prevented him from returning back to top form

I am not too worried. Unlike last season we know what formation works best for us and we have more chemistry than at the start of last season. The only problem is replacing DiMaria which will be difficult because the 3 candidates for the lcm role play different to him which means our front three will have a different roles than last year. I am more concerned with the lack of speed by our midfielders we don't have a single fast one, if they were tactically astute that wouldn't be much of a problem but neither isco nor james are so we look bad defensively. We look good with Xabi, Kroos and Modric in midfield but the problem with that is their lack of imagination going forward. This is a tiny problem that will be solved in no time trust me